When pro-Palestinian activists interrupted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Proms, critics of the action often repeated variations of the same line: ‘Don’t politicise art!’

Without unpacking this formulation’s assumptions, there is something missing here – the fact that the Israeli government itself is deliberately ‘politicising art’ in order to distract from the occupation.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is trying to improve Israel’s image to the world. The government decided, through culture, to start improving Israel’s image. They started sending artists, singers, painters, filmmakers and then the idea came of sending chefs.

The use of culture is just one element in a long-standing propaganda effort by Israel and its supporters to ‘rebrand’ a state increasingly associated with human rights abuses.

In 2008, for example, London was identified as one of the cities to be targeted for initiatives like “organizing film festivals, or food and wine festivals featuring Israel-made products”.

Just two months after Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2009 provoked international outrage, Israel’s Foreign Ministry received new funds to “improve Israel’s image through cultural and information diplomacy”.

Their then-deputy director general for cultural affairs said:

We will send well-known novelists and writers overseas, theatre companies, exhibits. This way you show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war.

This then is a transparent effort to “‘rebrand’ Israel as a fount of ‘creative energy’”, a desire by the Israeli government to – in the words of a Jewish Telegraph Agency article – “tell the Western world, ‘Hey, we’re just like you.’”

It turns out that Israel and its advocates have no grounds for criticising the ‘politicisation’ of art.

Reader comments

Thanks for adding the facts to back this article up. The BBC continually supports Israel with this policy across the majority of its media, more often than not in subtle ways. Its a shame the main media in this country helps publicise and market Israel’s artistic efforts whilst forming an embargo on Palestinians, so once again they suffer economic deprivation whilst Israeli’s profit. The primitive mindset of Israeli policy will have to change regarding their arab neighbours, the world is changing, it should learn from what happened to that other predator, who was once top of the food chain, all brawn and tiny brain, TRrex.

This then is a transparent effort to “‘rebrand’ Israel as a fount of ‘creative energy’”, a desire by the Israeli government to – in the words of a Jewish Telegraph Agency article – “tell the Western world, ‘Hey, we’re just like you.’

Nothing wrong or unusual with that. But perhaps to Mr White the Israelis should not export ‘culture’ lest they are seen as just like us?

It turns out that Israel and its advocates have no grounds for criticising the ‘politicisation’ of art.

Ah. The justification for hounding any and all Israelis from concert halls, universities, for boycotting their goods and services. For zealots, of course, Israel delenda est.

I’ve been faintly amused by the presumption, hyprocrisy and faux outrage regarding the demonstrations against the IPO.

I wonder if those who are screaming the loudest about what happened this time would have taken the same view of protests against one of the Soviet orchestras (Leningrad Symphony, IIRC) when it performed at the Proms some years ago. Would they have been so vocal in shouting “Keep politics out of culture!”.

Possibly not, given that the protests on that occasion were against the USSR’s supposed oppression of Jews in that country.

Politics and culture are inevitably intertwined, especially when those cultural manifestations are subsidised (either materially or in other ways) by a governing élite – of whatever stamp – which wishes to present a flattering image of their own power structure.

The main objection to the interruption to the Proms broadcast for many was the sheer uncouth, impolite and rude behaviour of those protesting. Protest outside if you want to – but don’t ruin ordinary decent people without an axe to grind’s evening. Otherwise Bennet@6 is correct to say anyone can disrupt any public gathering. And where will that get us?

Ben White’s argument here is weak. All countries will seek to publicise their ‘best bits’.

However Ben White is the author of a tome which assumes Israel to be an apartheid state. Therefore he is likely to be of the view that Israel should be destroyed as a state – as opposed to striving for a peaceful two state solution.’

Ben White’s position is an extremist one – not a mainstream one.

Will LC I wonder allow anyone on to write an article giving an opposite view. It is still possible you know to be on the left and not consider to be a nasty pariah state.

“Ben White’s argument here is weak. All countries will seek to publicise their ‘best bits’.”

Except that’s not the argument, as is clear in what it is a short post. Israeli officials (and lobby groups) are on record as explicitly seeking to hide or distract from well documented human rights abuses and breaches of international law through rebranding of various sorts. It’s that direct linkage, the fact that Israel sends ‘cultural ambassadors’ to try and make people forget what’s happening to the Palestinians, that is the point here.

“Jews were still being ‘slaughtered’ or murdered because they were Jews in the SU in the early 1980s (which was the period I was referring to)?

If so, then please – as they say – cite. From independent and verifiable sources, please.”

Slaughtered or murdered, no.

Thrown out of their jobs and then threatened with jail as “parasites” (for unemployment didn’t exist in the SU as you know) for applying for an exit visa to go to Israel, yes. Denied desirable jobs in the first place because they were Jews, yes. Discriminated against, yes. I know people this happened to….it’;s one of the reason so many of the fixers and wheeler dealers who beame oligarchs did so, because they were already necessarily on the fringes of Soviet society.

And I will admit to being rather shocked when I found out that the old Soviet internal passports would have, on the nationality line (Line 7 I think it was called) “Jew”, to distinguish from say “Russian” or “Kazakh” etc.

Firstly, no one is stupid enough to make up their mind about a countries domestic or foreign policy based upon a classical music performance. On the other hand, I think that the 5,600 people in the Albert Hall came away with pretty negative opinions of the obsessive loons that make up the PSC.

Even if what you say about “brand Israel” is true, there was no sense of any politics in the Albert Hall (and nothing distinctly Israeli about the IPO) until it was foisted upon us by the PSC.

Secondly, many regimes (with serious human rights abuses) use culture and sport as a way to brand themselves in a progressive way. I guess, if we were follow Ben White’s prescriptions universally then at next years Olympics we should be disrupting all events involving China, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Burma (and why not the US and UK?).

Thirdly, as has been pointed out, protesting outside a concert is fine, if that is what floats their boat. However, those of us that wanted to hear Webern, Bruch and Rimsky-Korsakov (with little or no interest in the the I/P conflict) should have been allowed to so without disruption from a bunch of philistine morons.

Last I heard this site was called LIBERAL Conspiracy, not Illiberal (Delete-Happy) Conspiracy. So I’ll post comment 14 again. I would be interested if instead of deleting it again you could get Ben White to refute the points I made:

Sunny or whoever it was re my comment 11:

Deleting comments comments you don’t agree with is silly, and hardly a ‘liberal’ attitude to discussion.

If you want to you can reveal your true ‘colours’ and delete it again and again so I am re-posting it below.
You could even ban me if it discomforts you enough – just ask yourself why you are running this website for discussion if you merely want to delete views you find challenging. Ben White could even reply directly, if he doesn’t consider it beneath him to do so.

Ben White,

Considering you’ve built a career writing articles demonising every political aspect of Israel it really is a bit rich for you to conflate Public Retaions with politicising. You might as well say ‘Every activity is political, so it gives us carte blanche to target absolutely anything associated with Israel’.

Sunny doesn’t allow people to point out the dangers of Ben White’s views. He just deletes any comment that he can’t answer. Unfortunately Sunny has a weak spot with regard to Jews and antisemitism if it is within the context of Israel. He either gets abusive or deletes. He’s a Jew baiter.